Oren Lavie’s music video for Her Morning Elegance has over 14 million views and rightfully so. It is one of the best examples of how beautifully the stop motion technique can be used to create a video. Originally used as a means of bringing clay animation to the screen, photographers and artists have taken the technique to a whole new level.

While it was hard to narrow it down, this is a list, in no particular order, of some of our favourite stop motion videos, combining the most popular and the lesser known stop motion videos on YouTube.

Yellow Sticky Notes

Yellow Sticky Notes has to be the most elegant and creative way to put together a to-do list. Using nothing more than post-it-notes and a pen, this 6 minute video takes you through a 9 year period of the animator’s life. But it’s not just an introspective video – it also highlights major events throughout the world as he saw them happen.

Over 1,700 photographs were used to create this 2 minute skiing adventure through downtown Seattle. You have to admire the guy who’s willing to wander around downtown Seattle with skis strapped to his feet.

Game Over

PES has an unbelievable amount of stop motion videos uploaded on YouTube. Some serve as ads, and some were made just for fun. One of the best is Game Over with all of it’s geeky creativity. The video recreates popular retro games like Space Invaders and Pacman, sound effects and all.

Controversy

The plot here is very simple – if something or someone is annoying you – play dead. That’s all there is to it. The animation is anything but simple. Controversy is a wonderful example of how claymation can be used to achieve just about anything.

Pancakes II

You’d be surprised how funny and entertaining a stop motion video of making and eating pancakes can be, but Pancakes II has over 3 million views to prove just how true that is. This video also proves that there is no limit to the illusions you can create using the stop motion technique. The first Pancakes video is just as popular, but the sequel definitely outdoes its predecessor.

Change

With everything from a watermelon, to legos, to party hats, this video brings every inaminate object you could possibly think of to life.

Minilogue

The use of whiteboards is extremely popular with stop motion film creators because of the flexibility it offers. Minilogue is a great example of how the whiteboard can be used to create any story you want. While there isn’t any plot to the video, it will keep you glued to your screen just to see how the shapes and creatures continuously transform before your eyes.

The Whiteboard

The Whiteboard, as the title shows, is another example of using a whiteboard to create a stop motion video. Combining both photographs and drawings, these guys take the concept to another level.

Rymdreglage – 8-bit trip

There’s a reason this video has over 6 million views. Moving and stacking lego bricks and taking photos in the process, it ended up taking 1,500 hours to complete. And the final product is absolutely worth it.

Lost Things

Lost Things is possibly one of the most beautiful stop motion videos on YouTube. The music video was created for, and stars, Alison Sudol, better known to fans as A Fine Frenzy.

iPhone 4 Disassembly

Another video that will undoubtedly be popular with geeks, as well as iPhone fans is TechRestore’s unboxing and disassembly of the iPhone 4. Over 1,700 photos were used to create this video. And they do it on a regular basis, with other videos feature the iPad and the PSP Go, amongst other gadgets.

Unusual Stop Motion

This stop motion video sets itself apart with a very unique method. All of the action takes place in drawings on little flaps of paper, quickly opened and closed to create movement.

Sweet Dreams

With almost a million views and a SXSW Jury Award, Sweet Dreams is a cute stop motion animation featuring cupcakes as the main character. And you really can’t go wrong with cupcakes.

Deadline

Deadline is another stop motion video that uses post-it-notes, but in a very different way. Created as a college student’s final project, we can’t imagine how many post-its were used in the making, but the end result is pretty cool.

The Original Human Tetris Performance

With over 11 million views, there was no way we could exclude this video from our list. The classic game of Tetris is recreated using humans and rows of seats in an auditorium. The planning alone must have been monumental, let alone the actual execution.

What are your favourite stop motion videos on YouTube? Let us know in the comments.

One of the first stop-motion vids I've ever seen and enjoyed: Maldroid's video for their song "Heck No (I'll Never Listen to Techno") -- stop motion done on a Lite-Brite. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

One of the first stop-motion vids I've ever seen and enjoyed: Maldroid's video for their song "Heck No (I'll Never Listen to Techno") -- stop motion done on a Lite-Brite. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxZJYbVd1hE

Nancy is a writer and editor living in Washington DC. She was previously the Middle East editor at The Next Web and currently works at a DC-based think tank on communications and social media outreach.